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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Sorry. looks like I am going to barely get my Thursday Theme posted before midnight. This weeks theme is water. So I chose some fun shots that we will all welcome in a few months when the summer heat wave starts.

the splash in this shot is four kids diving off the floating platform at the same time.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Ruby Tuesday as arrived once again. It is time to celebrate all things red. This week I have chosen to honor one of our favorite summer eateries.

The Cool Bean is a seasonal restaurant and the other day we noticed what seemed like activity as we drove past. Thinking the shop had reopened we did a quick turn around and headed back to pick up something to take home for lunch. Turned out we caught the owner in the middle of her spring cleaning and would have to wait another week to partake of a Buffalo Burgers, white chile, Jamaican jerk chicken or a wood fired pizza.

The Cool Bean is a relative newcomer to our town. This red double decker British bus just showed up on the backside of a large parking lot a few years ago. Within days it started getting a lot of attention as new items began to be added daily. Before long it was decked out in cool signs and flashing lights. A wrought iron fence surrounded tables with bright umbrellas. Then "The Bean" as we refer to it was open with the most unique menu in town. Featuring daily specials that each came with a side dish and home baked dessert. .

A person can drive up to the north window at six am and place an order for both breakfast and lunch, and have it waiting by the time you drive around to the south side pick-up window. That's a big hit with the folks making the drive into the city to work. Being regular night owls the Old Salt and I do well to make it in time for a respectable late lunch most days.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

MY NEIGHBORMy neighbor is a smiley face.He has no legs, just floats in space.So there’s one way to make him frown...You simply turn him upside down.

I found the above poem as I was surfing blogland. It seemed like the perfect thing to include with several photo's I captured recently for Mellow Yellow Monday. The poem is by Gregory K and can be found here

I found these eyes staring back at me from their tub in a neighbors yard. I'm sure there is a smile hiding below the rim.

This is one of the coffee cups that the Old Salt likes to use in the car. He just happen to pick it the same week that I captured the balloons in the market.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

The theme for this Saturday edition of Photo Hunters is Protect or Protection.

Perhaps the best way to PROTECT yourself while getting PROTECTION from the rain is to carry a large umbrella.

Then again, maybe not.

I snapped these photos one day when the Old Salt was caught in the rain. He was unaware at first that I was photographing him. Then he began to dance in the rain ah la Gene Kelly just for me. Ahh, isn't love grand.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I have to admit that lately I can't seem to keep up. The days roll around so fast they catch me unprepared. Thankfully, my trusty desktop calendar sends me reminders to help keep me on track. I've just been reminded that it is time for Theme Thursday and this week's topic is fire.

These shots were taken by my grandson at our family reunion last fall. I had just given him a Kodak Easyshare and he was a busy kid. Lets just say that if he had been shooting with a film camera, he would have bankrupted me. I have to congratulate him though because he did get some amazing photographs for his first time out.

I wish that I had time to hunt my archives for some of the campfire scenes I have taken over the decades. As I'm sure you know if you have read some of my posts I have a large family. We gather every year for a weekend reunion and the highlight for everyone is the evening campfires. Of course the night starts with plenty of hot dogs and smores. Then guitars can be heard tuning up and song books come out of hiding. Before long there will be some bongos and a keyboard joining in, and if we are lucky a fiddle or two. Soon voices are belting out the oldies and shouts of "Do you know ______" can be heard.

I must admit there have been years when us old folks moseyed off to bed only to awaken to find the young ones are still going strong as the sun comes up over the dying embers.

Hallelujah. Our local computer whiz is truly a wizard. He not only saved my pictures and word files but everything else as well. Yes, the old PC is fried and on its way to electronics heaven by way of the recycle chapel but I feel so lucky to have everything restored.I have learned my lesson. From now on everything will go to the external hard drive as soon as it comes from the camera. I set my calendar to remind me to back up everything else regularly also. I let the Old Salt talk me into getting a new Mac Mini. So hopefully it will be a long time before I have to repeat my recent troubles. Now I just have to learn to use this foreign operating system. I just keep telling myself that we are never to old to learn something new. It has become a mantra I chant each time I get frustrated with my mistakes. Anyhoo, it is time for Ruby Tuesday and thanks to the wizard I do not have to go digging into my box of CD's for something red. I took these shots the day before my crash. Nothing says Spring to me like finding all the stores filling their lots with bedding planes. Finding these strawberry plants in their red tubs tells me winter is finally history. They also have my mouth watering for that first batch of shortcakes piled high with berries and fluffy whipped cream. Hope you enjoy them.

Have a great week everyone and for more things red visit Ruby Tuesday at

Monday, April 20, 2009

Welcome to my edition of Mellow Yellow Monday. Hi everyone. Welcome to this weeks Mellow Yellow Monday. There is a cute hotdog stand on the outskirts of town that I thought would make a great post for mellow yellow. I stopped last week to get some shots but they were lost in my recent crash. I went out to retake the shots on Friday and was surprised to find a for sale sign in each window. I do hope that this is not an indication that the stand will not be reopening for its normal season. It is the only hot dog stand around and they served a Chicago style hot dog that is superb. Occasionally nothing hits the spot like a great hot dog.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Welcome to shadow shot Sunday. This has been a long week. If you have been following my post you know my PC crashed early in the week. Since I didn't follow a good back up schedule, my recent photos are now at the mercy of our local computer whizz. I am still waiting to hear if he can retrieve them. I only managed to get one new shadow shot this week and it happened to be the street sign outside the computer repair shop.

I found the following as I was hunting through my CD's for shots that would work for this week's Round Robin and Photo Hunt post. If you read my post on "In Flight" you know how the Old Salt and I met. This shot of the palm trees on the beach was taken while I was visiting him in San Diego.

Have a great week everyone. For more great shadow shots click the camera badge to visit Hey Harriet and join in the fun.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Welcome to Saturday’s Photo Hunt by Tn. Chick. The theme this week is purple. This should have been a very easy one for me. Purple is my favorite color and half my closet is in some shade of purple. Put, I actually planned to post several photo’s of some purple houses I found during our travels.

Regrettably, my PC crashed this week. I was not as careful as I should have been about backing up my files so all my photo’s are now in Limbo waiting for our local computer whiz to have time to try an retrieve them. Only time will tell.

So I had to go back to some old CD’s looking for some purple. These shots are all several years old but I like them and hope you do too.

First is my Mother dressed for a costume party as a bunch of grapes. By the time this was taken a few of her grapes had been picked, err, I mean popped.

Next is some purple flowers I found at the botanical gardens in San Diego. I had never seen them before or since. They look like cabbage to me. Can anyone name them for me?

Welcome to this weeks edition of Round Robin Photo Challenge. The theme this week is “In Flight” and this time we are specifically looking for something that is in flight.

I choose to write about the first time I took to the skies. My photo was taken in December 2006 during my very first airplane flight. I was sixty years old and had never been west of Kansas City, Missouri. I had made many trips to Lambert Airport to drop off or pick up someone but I had never been on an airplane myself.

Then suddenly on Monday at work I knew, with no uncertainty, that I had to make a trip to California and could not waste any time getting there. During my lunch break I went home and got on my computer and found the best price for a round trip ticket leaving early the next morning. But, why was I in such a rush?

I belonged to several singles websites back then and a very nice man from San Diego had contacted me on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We emailed for a while then we started to talk on the phone each night after I got home from work. It was the best 16 days of my life. Then on the seventeenth day the gentleman told me that he had promised to have a first meeting with a lady he had been talking with for some time. The date for their meeting was coming up soon and he wanted to be honest with me.

I just knew that I had to meet him first and there was not much time. I was working the 2 to 10 pm. shift four days a week. It was Monday and my three days off were coming up. I had to move quickly before I talked myself out of going. So with the ticket purchased I called my guy as usual when I got home. I asked what his plans were for the next day. Then asked if he could meet me at the airport. He was surprised but agreed.

I packed and made the one-hour drive into the airport. Put my car in long term parking and headed for the check-in counter. My flight was scheduled to leave at five AM. At 4:40 I placed a call to one of my sisters, getting her out of bed. It only took a minute for her to come fully awake when I explained where I was and what I was planning to do. She was convinced I was going to California to meet an ax murderer or worse but she did not have enough time to find a way to stop me. I promised to call her that evening and headed for my plane.

I was so excited (and nervous) that the flight was over before I could calm down. I had no problem spotting my gentleman waiting at the end of the ramp as promised. The Old Salt was much better looking in person than in the photo I was carrying. Those three days seemed like minutes. I returned home to start making plans for a return visit in January. The following March the Old Salt packed all his worldly goods into a Toyota Yaris and as we made the trip from La La Land to my small town in the heart of the Missouri wine country we stopped at a small wedding chapel in Laughlin Nevada long enough to be married.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

It has been a very bad day here. I was trying to catch up on the blogs I follow when my computer crashed this morning. This is the third time in two years I have gotten a virus. So the Old Salt is on my case big time, to go shopping for a new Mac instead of poring more dollars into a virus prone windows machine.

He said to tell you that I am typing this on his mac. Well, I am here to tell you that I hate it. Always have. It takes me forever to get out a simple little note. Regardless, I did not back up my photos and word files to the external hard drive the way I should so I lost all of my files. It is to early to know if our local computer whizz will be able to salvage anything. So until I can find the time to retake all the photo's and get a new computer I am dead in the water.

I will do my best on this old mac to keep up with everyone but please do not forget me while I am away. I will be back to blogging as soon as possible. Between tears and trying to cure my distress with carbs I am just lost. Perhaps, I do need to find a blogaholics anonymous meeting. I am having withdrawal already.

Cross your fingers and say a prayer and hopefully I will only miss a few days of posting.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

This is the Old Salt hiding from my camera. He just happened to find a handy red snow shovel while we were visiting neighbors. I found this old red bench in the neighbor's yard and loved the texture it added to the tulips. We went to vote the other day and this is the door to our polling place.

Check Out My Photo Blog

This site is more about the story that goes with the photo. On Cashjocky's Photo's the photo will be the story. I will try to post at least one photo a day. When my fingers connect with a camera or keyboard you never know that they will create.

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Hats on Parade

I've posted several times about my dislike of baseball caps and my love of a man in a great hat. But, what is cuter than a child in a hat or funnier than some of the party hats folks come up with. Nothing says more about a persons work, hobbies or concern for safety than the hat they wear. This slideshow features some of the hat photos I have collected. If you would like to be included in my hat parade just e-mail me a photo of you in a great hat.

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Hit Parade of Beards

Any man can grow a beard, but, it takes a very special kind of man to carry off wearing a beard with class or style. Here are a few of the beards I have captured and I will leave it to you to decide whether or not these gentleman got it right or should head to the nearest barber for a shave.

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Copyright 2005, 2012 R M Stebbing

This blog is the exclusive property of R M Burleson Stebbing and is protected under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 and all applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The content of this blog may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without the express consent of its author, RM Burleson Stebbing. All Rights Reserved.